VA Secretary lied about people being fired for wait time scandal

I continue to be amazed at what is happening at the Veterans Administration. However, it’s typical of the pretense of doing something when actually, nothing is being done.

Recently we reported about the actions of new Secretary McDonald and his out-of-line response to Rep. Coffman (R-Colo). And we detailed the budget cuts to the Choice Act program, which has only been only in existence for six months. I’ve just gotta ask, what do you think would happen if someone tried to cut food stamps or EBT cards? And how long have those programs been around?

So we were told by President Obama that after this new secretary assumed the reins, we’d get to the bottom of the situation in the VA. Well, once again, it seem those were just empty words.

On “Meet The Press” recently, Secretary McDonald stated, “Nine hundred people have been fired since I became secretary. We’ve got 60 people that we fired who have manipulated wait times.”

Except that’s not the truth.

As reported by the Washington Post, “Two days after McDonald took office, Congress passed legislation allowing more veterans to seek private care outside the VA system and authorizing McDonald to expedite disciplinary actions for senior executives.”

“It was notoriously difficult to fire senior executives at the VA — which terminated executives at one-fourth the firing rate for all federal agencies from 2008 to 2013, according to CNN – and the goal was to allow the VA chief to replace bad actors quickly, especially ones connected to the scandal.”

“In his “Meet the Press” interview, McDonald also said 100 senior leaders are under investigation by the inspector general and the Department of Justice. Yet McDonald is incorrect in saying that 60 employees who manipulated wait times were fired. Disciplinary actions for 75 employees have been proposed since June 3, 2014, according to the VA’s most recent weekly briefing to the House and Senate committees on veterans affairs.”

“Of the 75 employees, only eight employees have actually been removed, as of Feb. 13, 2015. Twenty-three cases were pending. Five employees resigned before a decision was made on their case. Others were demoted, were on probationary termination, had some other disciplinary action, or had no action taken at all. McDonald used his new personnel authority to propose removals of five executives — in Phoenix, Georgia, central Alabama, Pittsburgh and the VA central area office in Washington. Two retired before they could be removed, and three were actually fired. But of those three terminations, only one was officially related to the VA scandal — James Talton, director of Central Alabama’s VA.”

So there you have it, common core math when it comes to explaining firings at the VA. Now, what will happen to Mr. McDonald? Better yet, how is it that we continue to have people who blatantly lie to the American people, with no consequences? Why was McDonald given this position if he’s not actually doing what was expected — or is he actually doing what he was told?

We cannot continue to turn such a blind eye on the plight of our veterans. And to think that a program alive for ony six months was cut because McDonald declared it underutilized. Here is a graduate from West Point where the motto is “Duty, Honor, County.” And lying isn’t tolerated. McDonald arrogantly stated to Rep. Coffman that he’d run a large company. Sir, who cares if you did so with a lack of integrity?

Remember Sharon Helman, whose Phoenix VA hospital was at the center of the scandal and who apparently knew about the data-manipulation problems for at least two years? She was placed on administrative leave for seven months, and eventually fired for inappropriately accepting gifts.

“Regarding the 60 figure, it is most accurate to say that ‘VA has proposed disciplinary action related to data manipulation or patient care against more than 60 employees nationwide.’ This takes into account the full range of accountability actions including admonishments, demotions, reprimands, and termination,” wrote VA spokesman James Hutton to The Fact Checker.”

Our veterans deserve better and I pray the day will come when the correct emphasis is placed on leadership at the VA.

In the end, the Washington Post Fact Checker says “Recommending people to receive a letter about their wrongdoing is not the same thing as being fired. Recommending people to be fired is not the same thing as being fired. Employees are not fired unless they have been removed from their jobs. Whether resigning under pressure should be counted as being “held accountable” or being fired — well, McDonald may know better about that himself.”

Veterans Administration Secretary McDonald was awarded four Pinocchio’s for his statement. Just utterly sad.

o stated BEFORE 1st election, what he would do….why are folks just now, shocked,??
He stated: he did not like this country, nor it’s song, nor it’s flag, nor the military, nor the life style, nor business, etc., etc. Dumbfounded that folks were so stupid to vote for him – not once, but twice….

The lies about wait times remain. Even though the VA website boasts that Fully Developed Claims are processed in 149 days (http://benefits.va.gov/reports/mmwr_va_claims_online.asp), the Houston VA has told local Veteran Service Organizations that on average, claims actually take 18-24 months.

I was watching when he made that claim and i thought, “He’s lying” which is what Shinseki and his right hand man did when they claimed that a number of their employees had “been removed,” which i also recognized as typical democrat sleight-of-hand. And, as it turns out, by “removed” they meant away from direct contact with vets to another part of the agency.

It’s amazing that they even have the guts to mention budget issues. They had enough money to cover the parking lots of numerous VA facilities with solar panels. At the VA Clinic I visit in Sunny Florida, it will take an estimated 42 years for the panels to hit a cost vs savings break even point. That’s assuming no hail, tornado or advances in technology over the next half century render the entire project useless.

Grumpy, that is one fact that progressives love to ignore; ROI. The only thing that makes solar as popular as it is currently, is due to governmental assistance of one sort or another. The other thing “greenies” don’t understand is how much petroleum is involved in the manufacturing of solar panels. The last I’ve read on the subject is that solar panels will NOT recover savings over the cost of petroleum used in their manufacture. What most people fail to consider is ALL the costs of manufacturing down to heating the facilities, petroleum for the fork lifts, powering the machinery,… Read more »

Glad to see you are still in the school of believing what you want, never mind facts. CIA White Paper, October 2002 Iraq largely has rebuilt missile and biological weapons facilities damaged during Operation Desert Fox and has expanded its chemical and biological infrastructure under the cover of civilian production…. Although Saddam probably does not yet have nuclear weapons or sufficient material to make any, he remains intent on acquiring them. Baghdad has begun renewed production of chemical warfare agents, probably including mustard, sarin, cyclosarin, and VX. Its capability was reduced during the UNSCOM inspections and is probably more limited… Read more »

Why was Hussein tried and convicted by his own people and executed? His crime was gassing his own people. He killed about 400 people with chemical weapons. Also, recently massive stores of chemical weapons have been found in Iraq. This was just last year. Liberals have been cowards throughout history. They will not not do anything UNTIL a disaster strikes. I.E. Pearl Harbor and 9/11. You want to hold onto your lies, go ahead. Every time you say or text something just shows your ignorance.

While I liked the idea of a peaceful Iraq under the dictator SADDAM, the citizens praised us AND GEORGE W. FOR GIVING THEM FREEDOM. UNFORTUNATELY MONKEY BOY PULLED THE TROOPS TOO EARLY SO HE COULD BOAST HE “ENDED THE WAR”..Now look at the mess he’s gotten us in!

Democrat Quotes on Iraq Weapons of Mass Destruction “One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line.” –President Bill Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998 “If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.” –President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998 “Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the… Read more »

Uncle Remus Dr. Assad is NOT a threat to us either but your jungle boy has supplied terrorists with weapons in an attempt to overthrow him. Looks like even and idiot like BARAK would have learned his lesson in LIBYA!!

UNcle Remus, bad intel got us into Iraq…Personally I would love to have kept Saddam in power as well as Qhaddafi and throw our support behind PRESIDENT ASSAD. I wish Ba-rak had not cost so many EGYPTIAN lives by backing his TERRORIST BUDDIES IN THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD, AT LEAST THE CITIZENS AND MILITARY ENDED THAT DEBACLE QUICKLY!

The VA has always been a clusterfuck. For instance, it can hire doctors who are not licensed in nay US state even ones who ones who have lost their licenses for malpractice. It basically has immunity from malpractice liability. Under obama it ha become the mother of all clusterfucks.

Lieutenant Colonel West served 22 years in the United States Army and was elected to serve in the United States Congress in 2010. Allen is a Fox News Contributor and author of Guardian of the Republic: An American Ronin’s Journey to Faith, Family and Freedom.